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“The C Street house is a house for powerful people and broken people,” said Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “A lot of people go there as they would go to a church to receive healing and counsel.”

Like most political prayer groups, C Street operates under a code of silence; supporters say it’s the only way lawmakers can feel safe being completely honest about their personal struggles.

Former Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio) said weekly prayer breakfasts he attended on Capitol Hill were “probably some of the best moments I had during the week” precisely because “we closed the doors.”

“No staff is allowed in,” he said. “No reporters are allowed in — nobody from the outside, only members.”

But in the wake of the C Street-related sex scandals, the code of silence can seem less like pastoral privacy and more like “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” When news broke that Coburn confronted Ensign about his affair at C Street, the Oklahoma Republican and practicing OB-GYN declared that he couldn’t be compelled to testify about the matter because he was counseling Ensign “as a physician and as an ordained deacon.”

“When you operate in secret in Washington you raise an immediate red flag and then it gets redder when it gets mixed with any ideological agenda,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The Fellowship’s only public activity is organizing the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event that draws thousands from around the world including members of Congress and the president. The group also organized the first weekly prayer breakfasts in the House and Senate during the 1940s.

Those breakfasts continue today.

About 40 members attend the House prayer breakfast each week, said Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), a former president of the group that organizes it. According to one regular, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), a member usually shares a life story or a “walk of faith” and then takes questions from the group.

“Somebody gets a word from the Scriptures,” Hall explained, “and somebody talks a little bit about their life in a very personal way. Sometimes the member becomes very vulnerable and you become vulnerable to one another. That’s good because in a political life, you don’t get a chance sometimes to build the kind of personal relationships that everybody needs.”

In the Senate, roughly 25 members meet for an hour at 8 a.m. every Wednesday.

President Obama and the Congress are pushing for reforms that will move the US health care system closer to a nationalized system like that of Canada or Great Britain.

BrendaC: Jul. 20, 2009 - 5:17 AM EST

Obama and all politicians that try to force socialized medicine down our throats should not be allowed to get away with one set of rules for them and another for the general public:

You are totally off topic. Did you read the article ? There is nothing in this article about reforming health care. Nor is there anything in the article about Muslims - not ONE word. This article is about Republican hypocrites who think they were chosen by Jesus Christ to lead the USA, and who cheat on their wifes in their spare time. And then get together to talk ( brag ? ) about it. Take your Insurance Co. propaganda elsewhere, please.

About 40 members attend the House prayer breakfast each week, said Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), a former president of the group that organizes it. According to one regular, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), a member usually shares a life story or a “walk of faith” and then takes questions from the group.

When are the christian jihadists going to learn that prayer is not a plan. How much of our taxpayer money is paying for this????

I think that Brendac might be a C Street cult member dressed in drag. She came on early in an attempt to change the subject away from the C Street cult to other subjects. Kind of reminds me of the numerous other cult members that are trying to change the subject about there affaires.

Politico look, You gossip site. That's ALL you've become. We are not taking our eyes off the ball. There is REAL news out there. Unemployment, economy, a soilder taken hostage, Pakistan, Iran and on and on.

Yeah, I read the stupid thing. You must not have read my post? This is just silly gossip. Pickering has been out of office for a while. Do you really care about Pickering from Mississippi? Do you really think that crap is news worthy? My God, no wonder our country is screwed up.

BrendaC, no one is listening to your scare tactics anymore. You lost the election in November, remember?

The reason why we think weird stuff happens at C Street is because we've now had three Christians in a row come out from under the shroud at C Street as adulterers -- first on the taxpayers' dime, then on the wealthy parents' dime, and then from the famous Pickering family.

It just doesn't get much more hypocritical than this.

And then, on top of it, they refuse to resign!!!

We have faith that Jesus wanted them to use their power and time as public servants to bring health care to poor people, instead of using their power and time to allure their mistresses. Republicans are just out and out phoney. Feed the poor and heal the sick? They can't be bothered.

Yeah, I read the stupid thing. You must not have read my post? This is just silly gossip. Pickering has been out of office for a while. Do you really care about Pickering from Mississippi? Do you really think that crap is news worthy? My God, no wonder our country is screwed up.

No this is not just silly gossip. The revelations that our elected officials are in a cult that preaches the beliefs that they are chosen by God to lead the world and are not accountable for there actions should have every American concerned. C Street cult and there beliefs might just be why our country is so screwed up.

The most amazing thing is for all the rhetoric from the GOP (Sarah Palin leads the charge) about the North East ELITES eroding family values the most recent numbers show that the states with the biggest ,most out of control rates of Divorce, Teenage Birthrates and consumption of Pornography are totally RED. The south rules when it comes to broken homes.

BrendaC, I think what everyone here is trying to tell you that there are other blogs on this politico.com website for you to vent your frustrations on unemployment, the stimulus package, health care reform, the illegal war in Iraq, the possible investigations of Cheney & CIA coverup, and other news. This article was about the cult of C Street that is and has been currently producing news because of the fact that it pertains to a string of lawmakers who, under the shroud of secrecy, meet at this C Street location to exalt themselves as "...the ones that God had chosen to lead" and with the pretense that they can use our sacred Bible to stomp all over the 10 Commandments as they please, criticize and shift blame to Clinton and Spitzer and not take responsibilities for their own actions, piously and sanctimoniously believe that while Democrats who cheat MUST step down -- they as Republicans, not only do not need to step down, but should NOT step down because God said so.

The folks that are actually talking about the problem the most have the biggest problem.

The only problem with all of the talk is that they are pointing the spotlight on others as they deride this kind of behavior, hoping that no one sees that they are engaging in the very behavior they rail against.

Most interesting to me is the folks who are STILL duped by this.

Are they really being duped--could they be that stupid and/or willing to suspend disbelief? Or is it just that the GOP has eroded to such a point that the dregs who are left are those who will use any excuse to keep hating President Obama and his successes in pulling the country back from the precipice?

This article was about the cult of C Street that is and has been currently producing news because of the fact that it pertains to a string of lawmakers who, under the shroud of secrecy, meet at this C Street location to exalt themselves as "...the ones that God had chosen to lead" and with the pretense that they can use our sacred Bible to stomp all over the 10 Commandments as they please

There is always hope that the greatest achievement of the human race may still come to pass. Once we can get away from religion and such activities that take place at this refuge for hypocrites we can move on as a society. There continue to be persons of the type who hide under the mantle of faith and criticize others for activities they themselves engage in. Give me a good honest atheist any day. The human race will only be free once they are able to escape the bonds of religion and the lies that are required to maintain the faith. When the preacher stands up and preaches what he down deep knows are lies it is not that much of a step to lie about other things. When the Politician stands before the people and presents his promises that he knows he will be unable to keep it is easy to keep on going.

Why do people insist on going off topic. President Obama's speech has nothing to do with the sins of the Republicans. The dear Rev. Wright was at least an honest moral man who has not been involved in sex scandals. At least he could speak and when he stayed away from religion it was the truth and that is what irrititated people.